International Coaching Week

This week has been international coaching week, a week where coaching is celebrated around the world.

However, I regularly come across people who don’t know what real, powerful coaching is and I think I know the reason.

I was listening to an audio book recently and there was a phrase which really struck me, it went along the lines of ‘there is a low bar to entry, but a high bar for success’. It then goes on to say that many people have experienced coaching at a low level and I think this could be the reason many people feel sceptical and confused about what coaching is.

This makes me sad, because when you work with a trained and experienced coach, and you fully commit to the process, the transformation is amazing.

I know this, not only from working with my clients, but from my own coaching journey. I have been through coaching and worked with a number of different coaches and I still do now, I have experienced coaching at a low level, but I have also worked with some of the best.

There is such power in a strong coaching relationship, which brings about change and transformation many didn’t realise was possible.

A trained coach has the capacity and awareness to safely be courageous and challenging, creating a space where huge change and transformation is possible. Of course, they also have the capacity for empathy and compassion, providing a space to be fully you, warts and all, with no judgement or expectation. However, the real power is in the connection, the total trust and commitment of both coach and client to bring about change, whatever that may mean!

I was watching the snooker yesterday and they too, were talking about the power of coaching. The technical ones to help hone their skills, the physical ones to keep them fit and the mind-set ones. These tops professionals focused on the mind-set coach, saying if your mind isn’t in the right place, it doesn’t matter how skilful you are, you will never be at the top of your game.

Some people say to me, that coaching is too fluffy or wishy-washy for them, so I tell them, you haven’t worked with me. Many of my clients comment on how tough it is, how challenging, how I don’t pull any punches, one has told me I stick the knife in with a disarming smile and he hates and loves me equally! My clients often say they feel a bit warn out after our sessions…

…this makes me smile, because this shows me that what we are doing works, the more uncomfortable you feel, the more transformation is possible. The best thing about it is, that no matter how difficult the sessions are, how uncomfortable my clients feel when they are working with me… they keep coming back. Not only that, each time, they have a bigger smile on their face and more of a spring in their step. They do this because they know it works!

To see this transformation, to hear the difference, the reports of ‘I am doing xyz now and I couldn’t have done it without you’ or ‘I can’t believe how different I feel now and how quickly it has happened, other people are noticing and commenting’ it fills me with joy and I don’t mind admitting often the odd tear.

I do what I do because I love to see people thrive and live a full and happy life, the one they deserve to live.

This is all possible through the power of coaching, so I am proud of my profession and I celebrate amazing coaches everywhere. If you don’t find the right one the first time, keep looking, great coaches are out there and when you work with the right one, you will never look back!